Councillor Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, will be in attendance. If you have any particular questions in relation to Children’s Services, if you submit them to kieran.elliott@wiltshire.gov.uk and the Cabinet Member can be advised in order to prepare a response.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Councillor Laura Mayes, was in attendance, and gave details of her role in the Cabinet and the work of the Council in education, safeguarding children, children in care, working with those with special education needs and disabilities and other children’s provision. Councillor Mayes emphasised that the council was always looking for new foster families and adopters, and encouraged all those present to advertise that desire. She also highlighted efforts to ensure more children with disability could receive post 16 education within the county, rather than the majority receiving extra-county provision previously.
A presentation was then given on the proposals to reduce the number of Children’s Centres in Trowbridge which had been the subject of a recent consultation, and received questions from members of the public and the Area Board. Issues raised included:
There were queries on details of savings that were being identified with the consultation proposals, and it was stated around £0.500m, which involved the closure of 13 of 28 centres. The Cabinet Member stated that while some centres were well used many were not and keeping them open all day was not an effective use of money or staff, and that retaining staff to go out and meet people directly was felt to be more cost effective.
It was also raised that many centres were utilised for various support groups and provided a convenient meeting place in secure, suitable locations, and questioned how such groups could be retained with the proposed closure of 2 of the 3 Trowbridge centres, with the sole retention being in Studley Green, with some concerned the location was not central enough to be convenient. The Cabinet Member acknowledged the consultation had raised the issue of location of the centre to be retained and that this would be assessed closely, but assured those present that when officers met with groups outside the centres they would only use appropriate and safe locations.
Some members expressed concern that Trowbridge was being targeted more harshly than other areas, noting that Chippenham and Salisbury, of comparable size, were proposed to only lose 1 of their 3 children’s centres, despite Trowbridge’s projected growth to make it the most populous community area in the county and contained significant pockets of deprivation.
The Cabinet Member acknowledged that the latest figures on deprivation showed that Studley Green was the most deprived single area in the county, but that Chippenham and Salisbury both contained significant levels of deprivation in a more diffused state, which had been a factor in assessing which centres should be retained and where they should be located. It was agreed the latest official statistics on deprivation would be circulated to the Area Board.
Other issues raised included whether current buildings could be used for multiple purposes and therefore retained with their current uses, and concerns that the centres were only being discussed in respect of deprivation, when the issues they dealt with and support offered were those that crossed social barriers.
The Cabinet Member noted the issues raised during the meeting, stating that the next stage would be the proposals and financial information would be send to the providers of the children’s centres for their views in light of the financial information and consultation analysis, with new contracts to run from 1 July 2016.